"Actually, I lost my shoes, so I wanted to look around the castle to see if I could find them," Luna said as she walked alongside him.
"You lost your shoes?" Dudley looked at Luna with obvious confusion.
"Don't you remember where you lost them?"
Luna shook her head with complete unconcern. "Maybe someone hid them."
Dudley frowned. This situation might not be as simple as misplaced footwear. It could very well be a malicious prank.
"Then I think you'd better find the person who hid your shoes, rather than searching aimlessly around the entire castle," Dudley suggested practically.
"It doesn't really matter. I often lose things, but they always reappear before me at exactly the right time," Luna smiled at Dudley with dreamy confidence.
"You're remarkably optimistic about it," Dudley said with helpless admiration.
"Isn't life just like that? Full of helplessness, but with some delightful little surprises too," Luna said, bouncing ahead with infectious energy.
Outside the corridor windows, the noon sunlight streamed down, forming brilliant beams of light. Luna ran through them like a dancing sprite, her movements graceful and carefree.
Ten minutes later, Dudley and Luna discovered her shoes in an abandoned classroom near Ravenclaw Tower.
"See, I told you they would appear at the right time," Luna smiled as she picked up her footwear.
"Indeed they did," Dudley smiled and nodded with genuine amusement.
In reality, as Hogwarts' unofficial guardian, Dudley was quite familiar with every corner of this castle. After focusing on Luna's spiritual aura, finding her lost items wasn't particularly difficult.
"Thank you, Dudley. I should return to my common room now," Luna said, waving goodbye to him. She hung her shoes casually on her shoulder and bounced toward the Ravenclaw common room.
Dudley continued wandering around the castle for a while longer. Looking at the time, it was almost class time, so he headed toward the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom.
Halfway there, Dudley could see from quite a distance Lockhart in his flashy turquoise robes with a student tucked awkwardly under his arm, dragging him toward the classroom.
"Harry?" Upon closer inspection, Dudley discovered that the person trapped under Lockhart's arm was actually his cousin.
Harry's face was currently flushed bright red, as if he couldn't breathe properly.
Seeing Dudley approaching, Harry desperately reached out his hand.
"Help... help me..." he gasped.
Dudley quickly caught up to them.
"Professor Lockhart, what happened to Harry?" Dudley asked with concern.
Lockhart stopped and looked at Dudley with theatrical confusion. "Who are you exactly?"
"Dudley Dursley, Harry's cousin," Dudley gave a simple self-introduction.
"Oh, I've heard of you! Professor McGonagall mentioned you to me," Lockhart said, displaying his practised charming smile and finally releasing Harry from under his arm.
Harry quickly took several desperate breaths of fresh air.
"What happened here?" Dudley asked directly.
"Nothing particularly serious. I just discovered Harry handing out signed photographs of himself to other students, which is really quite inappropriate for someone Harry's age. I needed to remind him not to let fame go to his head so early."
"It's partly my fault as well. When we took that photograph together at Flourish and Blotts that made the front page, it gave Harry some dangerous ideas about showing off."
"You see, later they actually drove a flying car to school just to make headlines and show off for attention."
"Sigh, Harry, you should thank me for intervening. Otherwise, people would think you're someone who constantly seeks fame and glory."
Lockhart said with an exaggerated sigh of concern.
"I didn't do any of that!" Harry's face turned bright red, even showing genuine anger at the false accusation.
Dudley's mouth twitched slightly. If he didn't know Harry's true character so well, he might have actually believed Lockhart's fabricated story.
"Look, time with Harry is always so pleasant that we're about to be late for class," Lockhart exclaimed dramatically and hurried toward the classroom.
"You two, hurry up and follow me."
"Yes, Professor," Dudley replied diplomatically.
"What actually happened?" Dudley turned to ask Harry as they walked.
"It's a very long story," Harry looked thoroughly dejected and explained what had really occurred earlier.
Among the new Gryffindor students was an overeager Harry fan who kept following Harry around taking photographs. This embarrassing situation was witnessed by both Malfoy and Lockhart, leading to the misunderstanding that just unfolded.
With Malfoy's malicious embellishments and rumours, Harry couldn't explain himself clearly even with ten mouths.
After hearing this explanation, Dudley didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the absurdity.
"Maybe that boy could form a Harry Potter fan club with Ginny," Dudley suggested with amusement.
Hearing this suggestion, Harry's expression changed dramatically, even showing a trace of genuine fear.
Entering the classroom, Dudley and Harry quickly joined Hermione and Ron at their usual seats.
Lockhart stood confidently on the platform, displaying his practised charming smile and giving a lengthy self-introduction filled with his supposed accomplishments.
Most of the girls looked at him with obvious infatuation, while the boys all appeared impatient and sceptical.
"I don't know where Professor Dumbledore found this character. I think he's not even as competent as Quirrell," Ron said, pursing his lips with disdain.
"Because he was apparently the only one who applied for the position," Dudley shrugged. "But I heard he had pretty decent grades when he was a student in Ravenclaw."
After finishing his tedious introduction, Lockhart didn't start the actual lesson but directly handed out test papers to everyone, claiming he wanted to assess how everyone had prepared for Defence Against the Dark Arts.
However, when everyone received their test papers, they were all completely stunned by the questions.
"1. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite colour?"
"2. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition?"
"3. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date?"
"Are these supposed to be test questions?" Dudley's mouth twitched with disbelief. Almost all the questions revolved around Lockhart himself: his birthday, what gifts he preferred, his personal preferences, etc.
After thirty minutes, Dudley directly submitted a completely blank paper.
Others, like Harry, scribbled some random answers to at least make their papers look less empty. Only Hermione filled out everything completely, somehow managing to answer all the personal questions about their narcissistic professor.
"Tsk tsk, everyone's preparation isn't very impressive. Almost no one remembered what colour I prefer," Lockhart said while dramatically flipping through the papers.
"Oh wait, there's actually a completely blank paper here?" Lockhart exclaimed in exaggerated surprise, as if discovering a new continent.
Then he pulled out that paper with theatrical flair.
"Dudley Dursley. Oh, I remember you. Harry's cousin, correct?" Lockhart's attention focused on Dudley with obvious interest.
"Can you tell me why your paper is completely blank? I remember Professor McGonagall telling me your grades are quite exceptional," Lockhart enquired with false concern.
Everyone's attention turned to Dudley expectantly.
"Personally, I believe practical application is far more important in Defence Against the Dark Arts than memorising personal trivia about instructors," Dudley answered with calm directness.